The Ice Storm

It was 1973, and the climate was changing.

6.9
19971h 53m

In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.

Production

Logo for Fox Searchlight Pictures
Logo for Good Machine

Trailers & Videos

Thumbnail for video: The Ice Storm (1997) Original Trailer [HD]

The Ice Storm (1997) Original Trailer [HD]

Thumbnail for video: Barry Norman interviews Sigourney Weaver on The Ice Storm

Barry Norman interviews Sigourney Weaver on The Ice Storm

Thumbnail for video: Ang Lee, Rick Moody and James Schamus interview on "The Ice Storm" (1997)

Ang Lee, Rick Moody and James Schamus interview on "The Ice Storm" (1997)

Thumbnail for video: Casting the Locations

Casting the Locations

Cast

Photo of Kevin Kline

Kevin Kline

Ben Hood

Photo of Joan Allen

Joan Allen

Elena Hood

Photo of Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver

Janey Carver

Photo of Jamey Sheridan

Jamey Sheridan

Jim Carver

Photo of Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci

Wendy Hood

Photo of Tobey Maguire

Tobey Maguire

Paul Hood

Photo of Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood

Mikey Carver

Photo of Adam Hann-Byrd

Adam Hann-Byrd

Sandy Carver

Photo of Michael Cumpsty

Michael Cumpsty

Philip Edwards

Photo of Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes

Libbets Casey

Photo of Henry Czerny

Henry Czerny

George Clair

Photo of David Krumholtz

David Krumholtz

Francis Davenport

Photo of Kate Burton

Kate Burton

Dorothy Franklin

Photo of William Cain

William Cain

Ted Shackley

Photo of Maia Danziger

Maia Danziger

Mrs. Gadd

Photo of Glenn Fitzgerald

Glenn Fitzgerald

Neil Conrad

Photo of Allison Janney

Allison Janney

Dot Halford

Photo of Jonathan Freeman

Jonathan Freeman

Ted Franklin

Photo of Barbara Garrick

Barbara Garrick

Weather Reporter

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Reviews

G

CinemaSerf

7/10

With both Thanksgiving and an ice storm approaching their early 70s Connecticut town, the “Hood” and “Carver” families are congregating for their celebrations in which you sense you might actually be safer if you were the turkey. We first meet the former family where dad “Ben” (Kevin Kline) is pretty much only going through the motions in his marriage to “Elena” (Joan Chen). Their loved up teenage son “Paul” (Tobey Maguire) has arrived from college in New York, and then there is daughter “Wendy” (Christina Ricci). The latter lot appear just as messy as “Jim” (Jamey Sheridan) and “Janey” (Sigourney Weaver) have their two kids “Mikey” (Elijah Wood) and “Sandy” (Adam Hann-Byrd) and both are replete with all the usual familial dysfunction you’d expect from small town America (or anywhere else). What we learn fairly swiftly is that “Ben” is having a long-term affair with “Janey”; “Wendy” is engaged in something embryonic with “Mikey” - to the chagrin of “Sandy” and with tempers raising as exponentially as the temperatures outside are dropping, things begin to come to a long-awaited head. Though the scenarios are somewhat exaggerated here, this is one of the best character studies I’ve seen on screen as it deals with adult issues of ennui, betrayal and tragedy, but also of adolescence and growing up - and virtually all of that is done with as little sentiment as possible. There’s sex, lust, infatuation on display here - but is there actually any love? Or respect? Is age in any way an arbiter of maturity, or of being “grown up”? Kline, Chen and Weaver offer us quite a solid masterclass on just how to portray characters with virtually no self-awareness, nor sense of anything except themselves. Hypocrisy rules amidst a “do as I say not as I do” mentality that is best exemplified by “Ben” and his rapport with the sexually adventurous “Wendy” and by “Elena” as her patience finally begins to evaporate. Meantime, a solid series of efforts from the younger cast remind us all of the joys and pitfalls of puberty and the years immediately following our own sexual awakening. The whole thing is written with toxicity in mind, and with the external photography of this equally chilling environmental phenomena taking hold outside their centrally heated igloos, there develops a distinctly claustrophobic feel to the whole thing. Hopefully, most family life won’t be like this…!?

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